


I Could Be Your Escape

by Chlexcer



Category: EXO (Band), SHINee
Genre: Cyberpunk!AU, Fluff and Angst, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Romance, powers!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-27
Updated: 2016-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 14:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6119290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chlexcer/pseuds/Chlexcer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever since becoming one of the most sought after criminals in the city, Taemin hasn’t been able to rest more than a few hours every night, scared of getting killed in his sleep by one of his old friends. He would never admit to that, but with Jongin he doesn't need to; they know each other as well as they know themselves so words aren’t always necessary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Could Be Your Escape

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a gift for my friend [taekai4ever](http://taekai4ever.tumblr.com/) because she's amazing and wonderful and one of the few people that understand how much I love TaeKai~  
> Anyway, I also happen to love powers!AUs and cyberpunk aesthetics so.... Oh! and I would be lying if I said the MV of Taemin's [Press Your Number](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsOGiTSZ_cg) didn't inspire me a little bit (though I started writing this way before Taemin dropped his album so!! I win)  
> Also, the title is from the song [Fantasy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa2RIlsbOvA) by Alina Baraz & Galimatias because I suck at titling my own works.

They decided to keep the curtains drawn even if they opened the window as soon as they stepped into the room for the sake of counting with some relatively fresh air. 

Just in case. 

The ratty old fabric was barely enough to stop the multi-coloured neon lights from signs on the other side of the street from filtering into the otherwise dark room and drawing colourful patterns on every surface they could reach.

A soft beam of neon cyan appeared on Jongin’s bare back whenever a soft current of wind blew outside and rustled the curtains, a simple stripe of colour and light that started just below his shoulder blade and ceased to exist a few centimetres below his nape. Taemin traced the contours of the shape of light with the tips of his fingers in an idle manner, and even though the movement of the curtains in the slight wind disturbed the shape of cyan light more often than not and occasionally made it disappear, he never stopped caressing Jongin’s skin softly.

He didn’t need the light to see the dips and curves of Jongin’s body, though, his eyes already used to the darkness that had inundated the motel room a few hours ago. And anyway, his hands and mouth had already memorized every inch of Jongin’s bronze skin. The cyan light and the way it glowed softly on Jongin’s back, however, was novel and fascinating, and Taemin couldn’t keep his hands away from the shape it drew upon his partner’s back.

Jongin was right beside him, sleeping soundly with his face buried on the pillow. The blankets barely reached his hips, leaving miles of exposed skin that turned into a beautiful, colourful canvas under the glow of neon lights, and Taemin felt equal parts warm and proud knowing that he was the only one who could witness it.

Jongin seemed absolutely out of it, and Taemin couldn’t really blame him. He himself was extraordinarily tired and he would be sleeping just as soundly if it weren’t for the fact that he _couldn’t_ go to sleep. The police was on their asses and they could show up any second looking for them, kicking down the door and ruthlessly firing their guns at them. They were probably very eager about getting rid of the mutant fugitive and of the traitor that had not only liberated him, but also ran away with him.

They hadn’t had any encounters with the police since they had escaped from the Correctional Facility roughly two weeks ago, when Taemin had gotten to experience the incredible feeling of vanishing into thin air and almost simultaneously reappearing somewhere else for the very first time while clinging onto Jongin like a lifeline. However, that didn’t mean they weren’t looking for them, and Taemin knew that they were in fact looking _very_ thoroughly for them because Taemin had been a loyal agent of the police force until Jongin had reappeared in his life roughly a year ago, and he knew the police force’s priority was to hunt down what they called ‘mutants’. 

Ever since he had become one of the most sought after criminals in the city, Taemin hadn’t been able to rest more than a few hours every night, scared of getting killed by one old friends in his sleep. He was starting to become wary of everything, and every sound he heard in the streets startled him and prevented him from falling into slumber. He had his old gun from the force on the night table and he had managed to steal one for Jongin as well, and if anything went wrong Jongin could take them out of there in the blink of an eye. The idea of shooting one of his former comrades was a little toe-curling, but it was bitterly comforting knowing that _they_ would shoot _him_ if he didn’t do it first. At least they would be wearing helmets that would prevent him from seeing just which of his former friends would die by the pull of his trigger.

Taemin shook his head to try and get rid of those thoughts for now, and after snuggling closer to Jongin’s side, he leaned forward to press his puffy lips to Jongin’s nape, right over the cyan stripe of light that was glowing on his skin. Jongin didn’t even stir when Taemin took a hand to his dark hair and threaded his fingers through slightly sweaty locks, but he did let out a soft hum when Taemin’s lips started pressing soft kisses to the base of his neck.

Taemin couldn’t help but smirk when he felt a slight shiver run through Jongin’s body the moment he pressed his lips just below his ear, and perhaps if he had been a more considerate person he wouldn’t be doing any of this and would just let Jongin sleep in peace, but he was not much of a considerate person. He was restless and he was scared, though he would never admit to that. 

Taemin took his free hand to Jongin’s waist to squeeze and tickle his side, and his smirk only grew when Jongin let out a groan and attempted to shuffle away from him, finally more awake than asleep after Taemin’s actions.

“Taemin-ah, go to sleep,” Jongin said with a thick, sleepy voice. Taemin moved closer to Jongin again, and he let his hand fall from his lover’s hair to his bare back, where he started tracing the edges and curves of his shoulder blades with his fingertips. Since Jongin had moved, the beams of light were no longer glowing on his skin, so Taemin’s eyes focused on the few bruises that decorated the base of Jongin’s nape instead, visible to him even in the darkness.

“I can’t…” His answer came in a soft whisper, “I can’t sleep.”

After a few seconds of silence, Jongin turned around on the bed so he would be facing Taemin. His eyes were barely open, mere slits under heavy eyelids, and his lower lip was jutted out in a small, unintentional pout. His hair was slowly starting to get longer since he was no longer forced to shave it like in the Correctional Facility and Taemin had found he quite liked how it felt to run his fingers through his growing hair. He simply looked at Jongin’s eyes once he turned around, his hand turning into a small fist he rested over the teleporter’s chest.

“You can’t sleep,” Jongin repeated as he moved to put his arm over Taemin’s waist, matter-of-factly. “Have you tried counting sheep?”

Jongin’s eyelids had already fallen over his eyes, but the way his arm wrapped around Taemin’s side spread a warm feeling through his body. He pressed his fingertip to Jongin’s chin before slowly starting to trace his sharp collarbone, shuffling closer to him. “No. But that never works, anyway.”

The younger just hummed, and Taemin didn’t know whether it was due to his soft caresses or as a way to acknowledge his answer to his question. He looked about to fall asleep once again, so Taemin rushed to avoid it.

“You were snoring,” he lied, voice slightly louder. He was being childish, he knew, but he really couldn’t help it.

Jongin’s brow furrowed. “Was I now?”

Taemin nodded, though he vocalised his answer when he saw that Jongin’s eyes were still closed. “Yeah. Very loudly, too. The bed was shaking; the walls were rumbling… I was afraid you’d end up waking the couple next door.”

Jongin cracked a disbelieving smile at that, obviously aware that Taemin was just playing with him. Taemin also smiled coyly as he snuggled even closer to Jongin, legs tangling together under the sheets. “Saved the day, then, didn’t you?”

“Of course, always.”

Taemin pressed his face to Jongin’s neck when he felt the younger’s fingers moving over his bare back, tracing aimless patterns up and down soothingly. He only closed his eyes once he was sure Jongin’s caresses weren’t wavering and he wasn’t going back to sleep any time soon.

The beating of Jongin’s heart was strong and steady against his own body, the feeling of his arms wrapped around his body warm and comforting, and eventually Taemin started letting exhaustion take over him.

It was Jongin who broke the silence the next time, his low voice startling Taemin after his ears had gotten used to the buzzing silence of the room and the sounds of the city, hectic and loud even way after dark, coming from the other side of the drawn curtains and the open window. “You know you don’t have to do all of this… Right?”

Taemin hummed questioningly, though he didn’t move an inch from where he was cuddled against Jongin’s body. He was starting to feel sleepy, warm and secure in Jongin’s arms, but Jongin’s words had caught his attention. “What? What do you mean?”

“They’re looking for you because you’re with me,” Jongin started hesitantly, and Taemin noticed that the caresses of his rough hands were less aimless and lazy than before. His voice was dripping with something Taemin recognised immediately as guilt and anxiety. “They want to kill you. And it’s because of me. You gave up everything you had for this. And I just… I don’t think it’s fair.”

Taemin sighed softly against Jongin’s neck and he pulled backwards slightly to be able to look up at his face. Jongin’s eyes were open wider now, definitely awake now and frowning worriedly. Taemin cupped his cheek with his face right away in an attempt to chase that expression away. “Kim Jongin,” he patted his cheek with his fingers, and his voice was at the same time firm and soft, almost sleepy, “do you think I would be here if I didn’t want really to? Do you think I didn’t know what I was getting into, or something?”

Jongin looked back at him, his gaze just as firm as Taemin’s voice had been. “No, I don’t, but perhaps we both underestimated the danger. You can’t even sleep, you’re so scared.”

Taemin gawked at Jongin, and he tried to pull away from the teleporter’s embrace. “What? I’m not— “

“—It's okay, I’m scared too, you know?” Jongin interrupted, and Taemin stopped struggling to move away immediately. Jongin bit his lip and looked down between the two of them, sheepishly. “I really am…”

During the two weeks they had spent running around the lower parts of the city, sneaking around with their faces covered to avoid getting caught as they looked for a trace that could take them to Jongin’s friends, mutants like him, they had never talked about what they were feeling. They had always been too busy with the technicalities of their escape and of their search for Jongin’s friends that at the end of the day they were too tired to even talk about how they felt. They held each other through the night, though, hands clasped tight and eyes locked as they allowed themselves to get lost among waves of love and pleasure in a world where nothing else existed but the two of them. 

But it didn’t matter how close their bodies and their hearts were to each other, it didn’t matter how many years they had known each other and loved each other; when it came to baring their weaknesses to each other, they both felt more vulnerable than they ever did, so they had always avoided doing so. It was a matter of pride, perhaps. They still knew each other as well as they knew themselves, sometimes even better, so words weren’t always necessary. 

They hadn’t been when Taemin found himself in a dark alley pointing his gun at a badly wounded Jongin after years of thinking his best friend was dead, on a mission where he was meant to exterminate an elusive mutant that went by the name of ‘Kai’.

Taemin run a hand through Jongin’s hair, sighing softly as he inched closer once again, their noses bumping together. “Jongin. I chose to be here because I want to be here. I want to be with you. And, you know what? It’s probably better that we’re both scared together than scared by ourselves.” That was the closest he would get to admitting how afraid he actually was, and it made Jongin smile, even if it was a little crooked and unstable.

“I guess, yeah… But if you ever regret this, if it gets too much, I won’t blame you if you want to go, or something.”

The ex-agent rolled his eyes and tugged at Jongin’s hair, making the younger hiss in pain. “Shut up, stop saying nonsense. First of all, where the hell would I go? Do you think they would take me back after all this? Not without me giving them your exact location and getting my ass beaten. But what’s more— do you really think that after everything that’s happened, after thinking that you were dead for years and then risking my life for finding you and not killing you on the spot like I was supposed to, I will let you get rid of me just like that? Just because things got a little hard? Give me more credit. A little insomnia is nothing next to the shit I’m willing to endure for you.”

Taemin looked down at Jongin’s collarbones so he didn’t have to look at the fond smile that had appeared on Jongin’s face. His fingers were still buried on his short black hair, though. The younger squeezed Taemin’s waist in a gentle manner. “Right. Sorry.”

Taemin pressed his face against Jongin’s neck and stayed there with his eyes closed, sleepiness starting to seep in and cloud his senses once again after finding himself enveloped by Jongin’s warmth. “You’d do the same for me if the situation was the other way around, anyway.” He hesitated for a second before adding a question as a second thought, “right?”

Jongin snorted and Taemin felt the vibration of his chest and throat against his skin. “I can’t believe you really asked that. Of course I would.”

Taemin hummed in response. “Good,” he was interrupted by a yawn that landed against Jongin’s neck. “Just making sure.”

With Jongin’s arms around him Taemin was finally able to fall asleep. 

There were a few places they had to go to the next day, places that Jongin thought he would be able to find Sehun, or Chanyeol, or Kyungsoo, or any of the others, or at least a hint that could tell him where they had gone to. They had to walk to all of those places, though, because it wasn’t like they could just use Jongin’s power and appear in the middle of the street without bringing attention to them, and they had to do it in disguise so no one would recognise their faces, which were projected on the giant screens of the city every now and then to remind the citizens of who the newest criminals were. 

It had been a difficult couple of weeks and Jongin had no way of knowing when he would find his team, his _friends_ , nor if they were still alive, nor if they would take him back now that he was with Taemin, an ex-agent of the police whose hands were dirty with blood of others like them. 

Jongin sighed and looked at the soft movement of the curtains swaying in the soft breeze that came in through the open window, neon cyan light glowing behind it.

Now he was the one who was restless.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! I would appreciate it very much if you left a comment...~  
> Read the prequel [here!!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6311779/chapters/14460502)


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